Those new to interpreting the landscape often think they are compromising when they reduce the scene to simple components. This is the most important task for the landscape painter - to reduce surface story to its lowest visual common denominator and, in doing so, actually give expression to an aesthetic that transcends detail and story. As visual translator, the artist must anticipate how all the information presented by the landscape will be compiled within the painting and perceived in the mind of the viewer. Painting or drawing a shape is not difficult, but seeing a shape through layers of surface detail and complexity requires a practiced shift in perception - an ability to see the forest and the trees, which is not our natural tendency.

Simplification and massing are the ultimate perceptual exercises for the landscape painter. Chapter 5 also presents a two-value simplification exercise and a tree demonstration. Then, by working with flat shapes, without any blending between values, the painter is forced to see the scene in terms of its most fundamental shapes and planes. The four-value exercise in Chapter 5 uses a very limited number of values. Simplification and massing bring visual order out of chaos, and create clarity from ambiguity.

As we study the different types of scenes the landscape offers, it becomes clear that, majestic and inspirational though they may be, they can have a lot of detail and appear quite disorganized. In fact, if the essential practices of landscape painting were ranked in order of importance, simplification - the ability to translate nature’s complexity into fewer and more readable shapes and patterns - would be at the top of the list. “Paint the large shapes of light and dark that the leaves create.” One of the fundamental truths the artist-as-translator learns is that larger, simpler shapes and masses convey the essence of a subject better than its details. “How are we going to paint all those leaves?” they asked. – Hans HoffmanĪt a recent workshop, several students pointed to a cottonwood tree that was gently swaying in the breeze.

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

Landscape painting by mitchell albala